Message
by Henrika
Summary: Ed finds something engraved in one of the plates on his automail and it leads him to call the only person who could explain it. Winry. Small tufts of fluff.


Message  
By Henrika

Henrika- Haven't done Ed/Winry in awhile and this one gives nice hints of it. Enjoy and review!

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"Hey Al? Could you grab me a screwdriver?"

"Why?"

"My arm feels a bit funny."

"You haven't been doing your maintenance like Winry told you to, have you?" Al accused.

"I'm doing it now!" Ed ground out in annoyance. "Now will you get me a screwdriver already?"

"Fine." Al disappeared for a few minutes, reappearing with a screwdriver in his large hand.

"Thank you. Do you want me to oil your joints when I'm done?"

"No. I, unlike some people, actually take care of myself."

"Funny." Edward weighed the momentary satisfaction of throwing the screwdriver at his brother against the effort of going to pick it up. He erred on the side of laziness and just glared at the towering suit of armor. Al sighed.

"I'm going to go read. Do your maintenance."

"Yeah, yeah. That was the idea." Al clanked off and Ed set about loosening the screws on the top of his forearm.

When he finally managed to pull of the top plate, he carefully swept the screws together into a pile and flipped the heavy, sculpted metal over onto the table. He reached for the small can of oil across the table from him and stopped abruptly as he noticed something odd about the contoured steel plate.

There, in etching extremely similar to that in his pocket watch were the words 'stay safe.' His flesh fingers skated over the deep grooves done in familiar handwriting and he shivered as a rush of varied emotions flooded his system.

"I need to make a phone call Al! I'll be right back!" He yelled as he stood up and threw on his black jacket to cover the open wiring.

"Okay!" Al yelled back.

Ed found an open phone booth in the lobby of their current hotel. He inserted the correct coins and dialed the number, his mind racing around and reaching untold numbers of conclusions. "Rockbell Auto-mail. How can I help you?" Answered a familiar voice.

"Granny Pinako? It's me. Could you get Winry please?"

"Calling? This is a first. How bad did you screw up your limbs this time?"

_No trust. _Ed thought before he answered indignantly, "I didn't break them. Could you please get Winry?"

"Oh alright. Hang on a second." There was a muffled "Winry! It's Ed!" and some light yelling and thumping before the girl came on the line.

"Ed? What did you do?"

"Sheesh. Nothing. I did absolutely nothing dangerous or reckless or really stupid. I was even doing my maintenance!"

"Oh…really?"

"Yes. And…" And he forgot what angle he was going for. Was he angry with her? Happy? Annoyed? Was he going to accuse her for caring? Each avenue sounded more inane than the next.

" Hello? Ed? Are you still there?"

"Yeah."

"Were you going to ask me something?"

"Did you get the idea from my pocket watch?" He blurted out. It wasn't what he had wanted to say, but he was curious so he let it stand.

"What?"

"My auto-mail. The plate on my arm."

"Oh."

"Well?"

"I'm sorry." She said quietly.

"Huh?"

" I know how much it upsets you to have to carry around a reminder in your watch, but I just couldn't help thinking that if maybe you carried around my message, you'd remember that too." He heard her sniffle over the line.

"Don't cry please."

"I'm not crying."

"Yes you are. I'm sorry Winry. I'm not upset. Really. It just surprised me; that's all. I don't mind, really." He was babbling, he knew, but he was willing to say anything to make her stop crying.

"Ed?"

"Yes?"

"So you really don't mind? I mean, you can erase it if you want or I can replace it or…"

"Winry."

"Yes?"

"I'll try."

"You will? You'll take it to heart?"

" You gave me a reminder. I'll try. You're helping me. I'm sure your auto-mail will keep me safe."

There was a final sniffle. "Thanks Ed."

"Really Winry; I need to thank you."

"Keep your promises."

"I'll try. Good bye." He hung up and went back to his room, pressing his fingers into the plate's lettering again. He would try, but he knew that both metal and promises could be broken.

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Henrika- And I still manage to throw a damper on the end. Sigh, the world is so angsty.


End file.
